"Primary matter, vital scent, salt of Life.
Top notes: lemon, bergamot, myrtle
Middle notes: lavender, ginger, ozone notes
Base notes: oamkoss notes, juniper wood, patchouli"
So says the brochure. Another bag of sticky goo - I must say that I prefer the good ole vials. The first impression is pretty pungent bergamot but in a while, the scent develops; as with Chia, the citruses are not very prominent and they only stick out from time to time. In a while, the scent gets very sweet and sort of minty, I suspect the myrtle (not a common ingredient, I'd say, outside the incensey realm of fragrances). It totally doesn't develop in a linear way, there's a sinus curve of notes appearing and receding. At first, I would say that the citruses are done with in the first five minutes, giving way to mint hard candies and another while later, the fresh and pungent scent changes to slightly soapy - it's maybe my impression only but I often read citruses as soap. After yet another while, myrtle, ginger and juniper wood overflow everything only to give way to ozone and lavender and citruses again... and o it goes forever
Now, something has been kicking my shin for quite a while, some long buried impression... this smell reminds me of my childhood holidays in today's Croatia - sunlit coast (the perceptible saltiness of bergamot and ozone combine) with wild lavender and junipers and dry grass and pine needles and the pungency of salty breeze, in the happy time when I didn't have any allergies to mar my joy of being outside in the sun. And, that indefinable sort of soap that probably isn't produced anymore and which places the impression to sometime 25 years ago, not here and now, among cypresses and lemons of Tuscany. It's rather cloudy and grey in Tuscany at the moment and this fragrance brings sun. Lots of it, and those rugged clouds and clear blue sky that look so good on landscape photographs.
Hyle is marketed in 100ml bottles of eau de parfum; I would add a bottle of alcohol and dilute it to lots of cologne to pour all over. Irreverent, maybe, but very suitable for hot summer.
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Farmacia SS. Annunziata: Chia
Farmacia SS. Annunziata doesn't have a decent and informative website - what a pity. When I got a bottle of the fantastic Patchouly Indonesiano, the pharmacist gave me a handful of samples; I planned to go through them for quite some time but kept delaying it for various reasons but I decided to deal with the backlog of tasks. After all, surprisingly enough, things get done when one works on them.
So, the first sample I took from the pile was Chia.
The brochure I got in the pharmacy gives a brief description and the notes thusly:
Moon, the lunar aroma, perfume from another planet.
Top notes: Almond, orange
Middle notes: rose, boiled sugar*, hazelnut
Base notes: vanilla, amber, oakmoss
The samples are in the form of gel so the first impression was Awful goo! Ick, but then I smelled the scent. At the beginning, it was very weak - orange in the top notes is barely perceptible. Very soon, the sugar note becomes prominent, along with the hazelnuts. On a closer inspection - while sniffing my hand - I could smell both the pungent orange and the soapy note of rose but the general sweetness is very pervading. I can smell a touch of cocoa but that's maybe due to the hazelnut and sugar notes. It actually says zucchero filato, whatever it may mean, but it reminded me of my great-grandma who used to make sugar toppings by boiling sugar in water and it was of the right consistence when the thing wouldn't drip from the spoon but make 'threads' - then, one would add flavourings (lemon juice or rose water, usually) and pour on the cake.
After an hour or so, the floral notes disappear and the scent is just sweet - nuts in caramel, I'd say. Oddly enough, the very end is floral again.
Totally a gourmet scent - I don't know about oakmoss and amber but the rest is perfectly well edible. It's perfectly wearable, though, since the fragrance keeps close to the skin so no need to worry that some miserable cake-deprived dieter will gnaw into your arm on the bus.
So, the first sample I took from the pile was Chia.
The brochure I got in the pharmacy gives a brief description and the notes thusly:
Moon, the lunar aroma, perfume from another planet.
Top notes: Almond, orange
Middle notes: rose, boiled sugar*, hazelnut
Base notes: vanilla, amber, oakmoss
The samples are in the form of gel so the first impression was Awful goo! Ick, but then I smelled the scent. At the beginning, it was very weak - orange in the top notes is barely perceptible. Very soon, the sugar note becomes prominent, along with the hazelnuts. On a closer inspection - while sniffing my hand - I could smell both the pungent orange and the soapy note of rose but the general sweetness is very pervading. I can smell a touch of cocoa but that's maybe due to the hazelnut and sugar notes. It actually says zucchero filato, whatever it may mean, but it reminded me of my great-grandma who used to make sugar toppings by boiling sugar in water and it was of the right consistence when the thing wouldn't drip from the spoon but make 'threads' - then, one would add flavourings (lemon juice or rose water, usually) and pour on the cake.
After an hour or so, the floral notes disappear and the scent is just sweet - nuts in caramel, I'd say. Oddly enough, the very end is floral again.
Totally a gourmet scent - I don't know about oakmoss and amber but the rest is perfectly well edible. It's perfectly wearable, though, since the fragrance keeps close to the skin so no need to worry that some miserable cake-deprived dieter will gnaw into your arm on the bus.
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Antilope
Created by Hubert Fraysse in 1928; a floral-woody aldehyde chypre parfum with notes of tangerine, neroli, galbanum, acacia farnesiana, narcissus, hyacinth, ylang-ylang, May rose, lily of the valley, oak moss, civet, sandalwood and musk, classified D3f.
Discontinued (date unknown)
Perfume notes after Perfume Intelligence
Discontinued (date unknown)
Perfume notes after Perfume Intelligence
Tuesday, 7 April 2009
Regarding the earthquakes in Italy
I want to tell you that I'm fine, alive, no troubles in and around Florence at all.
I'll add something later on but I have some pressing matters at my heels.
I'll add something later on but I have some pressing matters at my heels.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Out in the wild
I sometimes think that I'm somewhat intelligent and then the world shows me that... not really so.
There was a school trip to Pistoia. The programme was something along the lines of Churches of the mendicant orders, blah, blah, three more lines. Meeting at 0930 in front of San Francesco church in Pistoia. I went to the station, at every ticket vending machine, there was a bunch of idiots toying with the software so meantime I missed the train. Well, the trains to Pistoia go every now and then so I checked, there was another due in 20 minutes, I found it, settled onboard, read or something, then the train started moving, then there was the announcement, "Welcome onboard of Italian railways, the train stops at Firenze Campo di Marte..." Well, Pistoia is on the other side, but whatever, thought I, "... somewhere, somewhere else, San Giovanni di Valdarno, Figline Valdarno..." Holy shit, wrong train. I got off at Campo di Marte - back home, I live across the street from the station - hopped on the bus, got to SMN again, boarded the right train, got to Pistoia more than an hour late and now what. I had no clue about the exact plans because I happily forgot what stood in the e-mail.
Since I've had rigorous and demanding training in history of urbanism, among others, I knew that almost every town with a railway station has a railway street perpendicular (moreless) to the tracks and that this railway street goes to the centre. And, after all, I've already been to Pistoia although I didn't remember all the details. I went to the main square, asked for a map in the information centre, discovered that I left the shift lens behind so no architecture photography today (shit, shit, shit, it was the bestest architecture photography weather. Luckily, that sort of crisp, cold light is not so rare here as back North) and I decided to make a round of all the mendicant churches. Or those I thought mendicant.
The folks weren't seen in the vicinity of San Francesco, after all, it was eleven or so. I continued towards Piazzetta Scalceati, after all, the mendicant monks sometimes went barefoot. No trace of art historians aroud Sta. Maria a Ripalta.
Next was the San Andrea - I was surprised that it had the green and white marble facade, I thought that San Zeno, baptistery and San Giovanni Fuorcivitas are enough elaborate facades for a small town. Well, one lives and learns. No trace of art historians either.
Santa Maria del Carmine was rebuilt, nothing cool and medieval, and neither there were any art historians to be seen.
In via del Gobbo, I could see a nice example of Communism in urbanism: If the public space belongs to all, why couldn't we grab a bit of it.
San Bartolomeo: another elaborate marble facade, pretty inside, no art historians in the general vicinity.
Santissima Annunziata at Piazza dei Servi - totally empty, not a single art historian.
San Pietro - shows two facades, pretty, no art historians around.
Meantime, it got pretty warm, I took off that big thick black sweatshirt and walked around in a tank top. Natives still wear coats and furs so I think that for some, I was the sight of the day. I would welcome if they could avoid shouting at other natives and pointing at me. Maybe it's something ethnic and I should appreciate it but, hey.
I went back to the main square - no trace of art historians even around the baptistery, so I got somewhat angry and decided to go back to the station and back home. I took another route, via piazza Garibaldi... and there they were, the professor pointing at something on the portal of San Domenico.
Then the art history thing could start.
note: I yet have to learn HTML to get the layout right.
note II.: I managed somehow. Hope.
There was a school trip to Pistoia. The programme was something along the lines of Churches of the mendicant orders, blah, blah, three more lines. Meeting at 0930 in front of San Francesco church in Pistoia. I went to the station, at every ticket vending machine, there was a bunch of idiots toying with the software so meantime I missed the train. Well, the trains to Pistoia go every now and then so I checked, there was another due in 20 minutes, I found it, settled onboard, read or something, then the train started moving, then there was the announcement, "Welcome onboard of Italian railways, the train stops at Firenze Campo di Marte..." Well, Pistoia is on the other side, but whatever, thought I, "... somewhere, somewhere else, San Giovanni di Valdarno, Figline Valdarno..." Holy shit, wrong train. I got off at Campo di Marte - back home, I live across the street from the station - hopped on the bus, got to SMN again, boarded the right train, got to Pistoia more than an hour late and now what. I had no clue about the exact plans because I happily forgot what stood in the e-mail.
Since I've had rigorous and demanding training in history of urbanism, among others, I knew that almost every town with a railway station has a railway street perpendicular (moreless) to the tracks and that this railway street goes to the centre. And, after all, I've already been to Pistoia although I didn't remember all the details. I went to the main square, asked for a map in the information centre, discovered that I left the shift lens behind so no architecture photography today (shit, shit, shit, it was the bestest architecture photography weather. Luckily, that sort of crisp, cold light is not so rare here as back North) and I decided to make a round of all the mendicant churches. Or those I thought mendicant.
The folks weren't seen in the vicinity of San Francesco, after all, it was eleven or so. I continued towards Piazzetta Scalceati, after all, the mendicant monks sometimes went barefoot. No trace of art historians aroud Sta. Maria a Ripalta.
Next was the San Andrea - I was surprised that it had the green and white marble facade, I thought that San Zeno, baptistery and San Giovanni Fuorcivitas are enough elaborate facades for a small town. Well, one lives and learns. No trace of art historians either.
Santa Maria del Carmine was rebuilt, nothing cool and medieval, and neither there were any art historians to be seen.
In via del Gobbo, I could see a nice example of Communism in urbanism: If the public space belongs to all, why couldn't we grab a bit of it.
San Bartolomeo: another elaborate marble facade, pretty inside, no art historians in the general vicinity.
Santissima Annunziata at Piazza dei Servi - totally empty, not a single art historian.
San Pietro - shows two facades, pretty, no art historians around.
Meantime, it got pretty warm, I took off that big thick black sweatshirt and walked around in a tank top. Natives still wear coats and furs so I think that for some, I was the sight of the day. I would welcome if they could avoid shouting at other natives and pointing at me. Maybe it's something ethnic and I should appreciate it but, hey.
I went back to the main square - no trace of art historians even around the baptistery, so I got somewhat angry and decided to go back to the station and back home. I took another route, via piazza Garibaldi... and there they were, the professor pointing at something on the portal of San Domenico.
Then the art history thing could start.
note: I yet have to learn HTML to get the layout right.
note II.: I managed somehow. Hope.
Thursday, 2 April 2009
Cristalle Eau Verte
The news havent been around so long so I needed to sacrifice a gallon of blood of various innocent creatures, ask a few friends from the Let's Rule the World secret conspiracy whose plan is to rule the world and there was more effort exerted. But, today, a bottle of the new Chanel fragrance arrived.
I am mildly disappointed that the box is not green. Or at least the framing, the Chanel folks undoubtedly have taste and sense of humour enough but... well, one can't have everything.
No pic of the box but it's white and silver and Chanel. Camera ran out of batteries. To conform to the context, I even turned my universal background cloth (the who guesses what it is may get a candy) to the patterned side because, well, it matches.
I haven't found the notes described somewhere - well, I might look at the box, in fact but that would be lame. My unexperienced nose says: Lemon, more lemon, some lime, a pinch of aldehydes for the top; middle notes are lemon and something a bit sweeter, then something I call for myself chopped grass. I have yet to wait for the drydown but my guess is some vetiver. Overall, the fragrance is indeed citrusy and green and if it doesn't become this summer's hit, I'll eat my shoes.
Now excuse me, I'll splash more of it on me and I'll go back to writing an intelligent post about Santa Reparata.
I am mildly disappointed that the box is not green. Or at least the framing, the Chanel folks undoubtedly have taste and sense of humour enough but... well, one can't have everything.
No pic of the box but it's white and silver and Chanel. Camera ran out of batteries. To conform to the context, I even turned my universal background cloth (the who guesses what it is may get a candy) to the patterned side because, well, it matches.
I haven't found the notes described somewhere - well, I might look at the box, in fact but that would be lame. My unexperienced nose says: Lemon, more lemon, some lime, a pinch of aldehydes for the top; middle notes are lemon and something a bit sweeter, then something I call for myself chopped grass. I have yet to wait for the drydown but my guess is some vetiver. Overall, the fragrance is indeed citrusy and green and if it doesn't become this summer's hit, I'll eat my shoes.
Now excuse me, I'll splash more of it on me and I'll go back to writing an intelligent post about Santa Reparata.
Santa Reparata
Santa Reparata preceded the current cathedral, the well-known and oh-so-kitschified Santa Maria del Fiore. In 1296, the construction of Sta. Maria del Fiore began, staring with the apses, but the old church remained for almost80 years more, until 1374, when it was torn down to make space for the new cathedra.
The first phase is vaguely dated 'after 313', meaning after the Edict of Milan and 'somewhere between the 5th and 6th centuries, based on the style of floor mosaic, the only remaining element of the paleochristian cathedral. The mosaic includes a list of donors and the amounts they provided - I wonder whether there was some tax exemption on pious gifts, too? and an image of a peacock, a symbol of eternity. The eternal nature of peacock, I hear, is based on the fact that peacock meat lasts longer than other meat, which was important feature before the advent of fridges. My hunter uncle, however, says that he has eaten a peacock once, or rather gagged over a roasted peacock, because it tastes awful. Which may explain why would it last for so long but I'm not able to judge the early Medieval desire of proteins.
In 869, the bishop Andrea went to Lucca on an imperial mission and he might have got toknow the rare cult of Santa Reparata there but he hasn't brought any relics – after all, the martyr of Antiochia may never have existed. Hardly anything can be related to the activity of Andrea, more stable ground resurfaces only in the 11th century when the church was rebuilt. What is preserved are the massive pillars of the nave and the crypt that was however deprived of its vault. Now, only one column remained, with a classicizing capital which is a good example of how Romanesque art recycled the antique elements: the capital employs the elements of a frieze.
The last reconstruction of Santa Reparata took place in the late 12th/early 13th centuries. New facade was created, with mosaic inlays in red, black and gold – a Roman thing, in Tuscany, inlays were to use yet for quite some time only the white and green marbles of Carrara and Prato respectively. Some of the fragments were found during the reconstruction in the late 1960's – turned upside down, they served as a pavement.
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